


Fear Me Not

by browncoatparadox (DrSmithAndJones)



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Found Family, Gen, Tam Lin - Freeform, because nothing says found family more than hugging someone as a rescue mission, fae-u, or as I like to call it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29993043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrSmithAndJones/pseuds/browncoatparadox
Summary: In the last three days, Dr. Ayda Mensah has been captured by the Wild Hunt, kept prisoner in the faerie court, and rescued by a changeling she thought long gone. She's not letting anyone be left behind in Fairyland, even if it means making one more wager with the Hunters.
Relationships: Dr. Mensah & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Mensah & Preservation Survey, Murderbot & Preservation Survey
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Fear Me Not

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, this can be blamed on the Murderbot Discord, because talking about names and the intricate rules of the Corporate Rim ended up transmuting into a worldbuilding frenzy for a faerie AU.

The changeling is on the ground, its body twisting as the Hunt bears down upon it. Its body thrums with magic, shifting its form from creature to creature. Ayda kneels beside her team, watching with wide eyes. It barely seems conscious, showing none of the spark and determination that it had when it guided them through the forest, or when it rescued Ayda from the faerie court, or when it looked at her before absorbing a curse meant to corrupt an entire gateway. The hunters do not seem to care about its pain, silently forming a circle around the changeling and the Preservation team. They’re trapped. 

“We will take it in whatever form it wears,” says one fae, walking forwards. A hound growls at its side, straining at its leash as it tries to charge at the changeling. As if in response, its huddled form begins to grow more canine, still fluid but elongating into a wolf-like shape.

Ayda stands, almost unconsciously, and levels her iron knife at the fae. “You’re not taking it.”

The fae laughs, and the rest of the Hunt laughs with it, a clamor of bells and blades. “You could barely leave when it was helping you! We’ll give you a deal- hand over the changeling, and we let you and the rest of your mortals return to the human realm.”

Ayda stays firm. “No.” The Hunt starts to grumble and hiss, drawing closer. There are too many of them, more than one exhausted woman and her team can take with a single iron knife. She frantically casts her mind for a solution, something that she can use to get them out of here. She’s her team’s leader, a member of the Preservation Council, and she won’t let her any of her people be trapped here any longer. 

“How about a bet?”

The fae’s eyes sharpen, a grin slicing across its face. “And what do you propose, little mortal?”

She takes a deep breath. “If I can make the changeling take on its true form, then it gets to come back with me and my team. If I can’t, you can take both me and it.”

She hears someone gasp behind her, but Ayda pushes it back to the mind. She needs to focus on saving the changeling right now. 

The fae looks amused. “An interesting proposal. Very well. If you hold the changeling fast until it takes its true form, not letting it leave the embrace of your arms no matter what shape it takes, then you, it, and all your party may return to the human realm, free of any obligation to us. If you fail in any way, then both you and it will remain and all your party’s debts will be due to us.”

Ayda looks back at the group. They huddle together, talking over the wager. She doesn’t know if this is the right decision, if she should accept the wager before her. Her party’s debts could cover so much, and there’s a good chance that if she fails none of them will make it back to Preservation. She’s not even sure why she proposed it, why she’s risking her team, just knows that she’s not letting the changeling go back to this place. 

Pin-Lee looks up from the huddle and nods at Ayda. She feels relief deep in her core. They trust her. They trust her to pull this off. Turning to the fae, she says, “I accept your challenge.”

“Excellent!” says the fae. It sharply pulls on the hound’s lead, drawing it back. Ayda runs forwards and tackles the changeling, not wasting any time.

It feels gloopy at first, as if it’s made of nothing more than mud. And then it grows harder, firmer, sharper, until she is holding a porcupine in her arms. Its spines dig into her arms, drawing fine lines of blood, but she grits her teeth and grips it tighter. She’s almost become used to the pain when it changes again. Its form is growing smoother, slipperier, and now she’s holding an eel. She desperately tries to hold on, but she’s so tired. She’s spent the last three days in Fairyland without any food and with barely any sleep. She can’t catch it in time, can’t stop the sleek figure from writhing out between her arms and falling towards the ground. She’s failed. She’s failed it and she’s failed her team and they’re all going to be trapped in Fairyland for the rest of their lives-

Another pair of arms wrap around her side, pinning the eel close to her chest before it can fall. “I’ve got you!” Ratthi says. “We’ve all got you.”

It shifts again, growing larger and larger until it’s a bear rearing over them and her arms can barely reach around, but Gurathin pins it in on the other side. A thin line of magic stretches between his hands and Ayda’s, pulling them together. When the bear tries to rush forwards, the glimmering light constricts against it. Ayda’s arms close in as it shrinks down to a bird, flapping its wings. Overse comes in from the side and grabs onto its beak, keeping it from pecking at Ayda’s face. The changeling keeps shifting, and her team keeps coming in, layering shields or whispering encouragement or just holding her fast. The forms blur together (lion-snake-fire-deer-iron-ice) until all Ayda can process is the pain, and the fear, and the arms of her team-her family- wrapped around her, keeping her safe. 

It starts to take on a familiar shape, the shape that she recognizes, and she is relieved for a moment. But the magic doesn’t feel completed, still fights against her embrace, so she holds it fast. The figure solidifies, as if its bones have turned to metal, and as Ayda looks down she sees that tracings of iron have appeared across its body. But she knows this isn’t right either, isn’t the true form of the changeling, so she holds it fast. Finally it shrinks slightly, the metal fading away and replacing itself with twisted vines, its ears extending to a mild point, and its eyes glowing with a faint energy before it closes them.

It slumps down, naked and exhausted. Pin-Lee leaves the hug (because that’s what this has become, a group hug for their lives) and rummages through the pile of clothing. For a moment, Ayda thinks that she’s bringing over one of their coats, one with the Preservation device embroidered upon its back. But as she spreads it over the changeling, she sees that it’s something that it was wearing when it came to rescue her- a deep blue surcoat, with waves embroidered across the hem. It looks up, a flash of sadness crossing its face as Pin-Lee drapes the coat over its body.

A little bit of color enters its face as it breathes out. “It’s over now. You can let me go.”

Ayda and her team step back. It wraps the coat around its body and silently sits down facing a tree. 

“You cheated!” says the fae, the hound at its side yelping in confusion. “The deal was that if she held the changeling until it took its true form, both she and it would go free. She failed in her task, and that is not its true form!”

“Yes it is,” says the changeling, not looking away from the bark. “This is the real me. Not the one you owned. So fuck you.”

The fae is practically steaming now. “She still did not hold onto it! She did not succeed alone.”

At this, Pin-Lee glares at the fae and looms over it in a way that has nothing to do with her height. “You said Dr. Mensah had to hold onto it. You never said she had to do it alone. We were simply using the resources available to us. Unless you’d like to argue that the wording did not allow that?”

“The implication-"

“And we all know that fae deals are known to run on implied details,” Arada adds, standing beside Pin-Lee. “Face it. We’re leaving. All of us.”

The hound throws its head back and howls in rage. The fae narrows its eyes, then spits at the changeling, “Had we known you had forgotten who you belonged to, your true nature, we would have taken your eyes and tongue when we had the chance.”

The changeling raises its middle finger. The fae splutters, then turns its back and strides away from the crossroads. The rest of the Hunt follows in its wake, dissolving into the mist. The hound makes one last attempt to lunge at the changeling, but is pulled back with a last whimper before it too fades. 

Ayda lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, and feels her legs go weak beneath her. Ratthi catches her before she can fall. “It’s okay,” he says. “We can go home now.”

The changeling stands up and stares at her. Its eyes still gleam with magic. “You should have run,” it says. “They would have let you, you weren’t a challenge to them.”

“No one gets left behind,” Ayda says. “We weren’t going to leave you to them.”

The changeling turns around, facing the tree again. It hums something under its breath, a ballad that Ayda vaguely recognizes, until it steps back and looks at the humans.   
“For now, you may call me Changeling,” it says, an awkward note in its voice. Ayda laughs a bit, her voice stuttering out. Somehow, it’s perfect. Changeling smiles slightly, a relieved expression on its face. Ayda looks around the crossroads- at her team, both mortal and not-quite. Then, as a group, they step through the threshold and back to their own world.


End file.
